CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVEL WITH RESPECT TO AFTER

SALES SERVICE IN AUTOMOBILES INDUSTRY OF KARACHI

Riaz H. Soomro (Corresponding Author)
Assistant Professor and PhD Research scholar
Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences
Hamdard University, Karachi
Email: ibneluqman@yahoo.com
Cell: +923333344755

Muhammad Fahad Baig
Pursuing BBA
Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences
Hamdard University, Karachi

Abstract
This study examines the customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales service in
automobiles industry of Karachi. Spare parts, technical support workshop, specialized hybrid
engine mechanics has been taken as the factors which will affect the customer satisfaction level
with respect to after sales and service. The data is collected through questionnaire and the
questionnaire has been filled out from 70 respondents. Multiple regression analysis has been
used to check the dependency of variables. Result shows that easy availability of mechanics have
a strong relationship on the customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales services in
automobile industry of Karachi while easy availability of spare parts and technical support
workshop have also impact on customer satisfaction level but the impact is low as compared to
easy availability of mechanics so that importers of hybrid mobiles and the firms should focus on
the easy availability of mechanics in order to satisfy more customer in the perspective of
customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales service in automobile industry of Karachi.
Key Words: After sales service, spare parts, mechanics/technicians, workshops, hybrid
technology engines, customer satisfaction level.

1. Introduction
The Japanese automobile industry is being transmitted and controlled by Pakistan Automobile
Association (PAMA) in Pakistan, and there are four key players in this industry, these are
Suzuki, Honda, Indus engines, and Deewan Farooq engines. This industry employs around
150000 to 200000 persons directly and indirectly for the sale and purchase of such imported cars
from Japan. From 2001, the automobiles industry started to grow very rapidly with the increasing
pace of globalization, and production increases from 45000 vehicles, increased to 3000000
vehicles per annum in 2013 and there will be more chances to grow with greater rate in the year
2014.(Zaidi, 2013) Yet in the mid of this residency, in Pakistan when utilized autos was foreign
made from Japan including new cross breed auto engineering like Toyota Prius, Aqua, BB,
Honda Insight, Honda Accord and so on., which are computerized cars, and which were
imported without computerized equipment for their tuning, services and supported spare parts
and also without hybrid technology. This creates a disaster in the scenario of the automobile
industry of Pakistan. Branded cars are relatively very cheap in price with attractive features and
performances, why not it attract customers but relatively have zero accommodation regarding
after sales and service.
The offer of utilized autos and different vehicles to different nations is still productive because of
the generally minimal effort and great state of the vehicles being acquired. Helping components
to the practicality of such fare incorporate Japan's strict engine vehicle reviews and high
devaluation which make such vehicles worth almost no in Japan following two years, and strict
natural insurance regulations that make vehicle transfer exceptionally exorbitant in Japan. The
criticalness of after bargains administration has been distinguished by solid products producers.
Firms offering sturdy merchandise are fundamentally offering after deals administrations. In
developing nations more accentuate put on after deals administrations, on the grounds that after
bargains benefit not just demonstrating preference and aides in brand positioning additionally
helps essentially in benefit era. Clients are exceptionally touchy in their buy choice, particularly
in strong merchandise. The intention to lead this study is to assess the effect of after deals
benefits on buyer purchasing conduct in car industry of Pakistan. (DAWN, 2013)
What is the most important thing for the automobile industry that should be considered to satisfy
the customers need after sale service when you are purchasing hybrid technology automobiles?
This is very important to the automobile industry to determine the factors which play very
important role to satisfy the need of the customers and drive their purchase decision. Time
constraint is the only limitation in order to gather data from the hybrid technology automobile
consumer. This study is useful for only the consumers of the hybrid technology automobiles and
the imported car dealers in order to provide maximum customer satisfaction level with respect to
after sales service. The objectives of the study is to reduce the gap in maximum delivery
exchange between automobile`s customers and manufacturers due to insufficient or inconvenient
after sale services in order to determine customer satisfaction level. Spare parts, technical
support workshop, specialized hybrid engine mechanics are important factors which have
significant effect on the customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales service or not.
2. Literature Review
A research study is conducted on after sales services for those durable products which required
further accommodations after purchases. Consumers of durable products like cars are not having
expectations with the firms up to the purchases but they are also willing to be entertained after
purchasing because some basic things are associated with the product which should be
considered important in order to retain customers and hence influencing consumer buying
behavior. For this research study structured questionnaire have been asked from the car dealers
of the Coimbatore. The finding shows that consumers are highly willing to be severed with
greater services after sale and their level of expectations after sales and services is continuously
increasing and with high value care with latest technologies of the luxurious goods has been
increased with the dealers and this is directly associated with the customer relationship
management. A dealer must have to raised standards continuously for greater customer
satisfaction level because it is now have been confirmed that firm`s success is not the increasing
in sales but the customer retention and as the customer retention level is directly after affecting
the sales. Therefore, after sales and services have been confirmed that it is the important aspect
for luxurious products like cars. (Sathish, Balamurugan, Sharma, & Karthikeyan, 2013)
A research is conducted on the facilities for the automobiles after sales and services. These
facilities include the spare parts, mechanics and workshops are key element for the automobiles
after sales and services. The data is collected through surveys in the sales and services market of
the automobiles in Sahiwal and the total 150 respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire
consisting of close-ended questions. This research study show that economic and cheap spare
parts of the automobiles impacts a lot on the consumer buying behavior and also the availability
of the specialized mechanics who are professionally skilled with all the technical problems in
that vehicle and the consumer buying behavior are also looking up for the workshops available
for their corresponding vehicle. For the purchase of such luxurious goods consumer conduct little
market survey and have some know-how regarding vehicle as consumer are futuristic and
optimistic regarding purchasing automobiles. Therefore, importers should work on the
development of cheap and economic spare parts to bring an increase in the sales of automobile
industry.(Saeed, Lodhi, Majid, Rana, Mahmood, & Ahmad, 2013)
Hybrid engine car technology is recently introduced in the end of the year 2013 in Pakistan and
the hybrid technology engine cars are likely to be well admired by the people as these cars are
very much fuel efficient and are well enough for the controlling of the environmental health and
safety issues. A research study on the hybrid engine is conducted for the awareness of benefits of
the hybrid technology. This research is totally conducted in order to create awareness of the
benefits and they describe some of the following important benefits of the hybrid engines that
hybrid technology guarantee safety and provide better performance through tractable distributed
algorithm. Hybrid cars are equipped with an electronic charging battery which helps to provide
better performance and very efficient fuel consumption.(Kumar & Kumaresan, 2012)
As for the after sales and service of the automobiles, a research study is conducted highlighting
some of the important aspects of the automobiles and the problems which are faced by the
consumers of imported automobiles. In this research study the impact of after sales and services
on consumer buying behavior in the industry of automobiles has been carried out. And for this
purpose researcher collected data through close-ended questionnaire filled from 250 respondents
from the five selected sales and service centers of the genuine equipment manufacturers in
Pakistan and the result study shows that genuine spare parts are not available and if available but
are very much expensive, technician/mechanics are not easily available who are specialized to
computerized Japanese imported cars, warranty associated parts replacement are not possible. On
the other hand it is also identified in the research that economical spare parts, compatible spare
parts, and service shops have significant effect on the consumer buying behavior. Further the
author also recommended that importers and manufacturers should focus on easy availability of
the spare part, mechanics, parts replacement warranties and customization services to change the
consumer buying behavior in order to provide after sales and services. (Ahmed & Sanatullah,
2011)
3. Research Methodology
This research is conducted in Karachi in such a way to identify the factors involved which will
affect the customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales services from the consumers of
hybrid engine technology automobiles, as this research is conducted to identify the association
between factors therefore, it is fall in the category of applied research. The research is correlation
in nature because the impact of the one dependent variable is taken in this study and their
association with three independent variables. The primary data collection method technique is
used in order to gather data through qualitative methods because no historic data is available and
the responses from the individual are required which lead to this research.
The universe of this study is Karachi as Karachi is the largest populated city of Pakistan.
Therefore, the results can be implemented all over the Pakistan because the research is conducted
on the automobiles hybrid technology which is directly imported from Japan and the results can
be applied on the whole Pakistan as the problem faced by people of Karachi likely wise face by
the people of Pakistan too. The estimated Population of Karachi is 13.38 million on 13
December, 2013. (Hussain, 2013)
The sample size for the population of Karachi is calculated through sample size calculator.
According to the sample size calculator the sample size would be 68 with the acceptance margin
of 10% along with confidence level of 90% (RAOSOFT). Questionnaires are filled from 70
respondents.
The respondents are only the user of hybrid technology automobiles and who are citizen of
Karachi and are above age of 20 years in order to provide judgmental responses. The respondents
are selected on a non-probability random sampling with a convenience based sampling that who
is easily available and easily provide the information. The data is collected through questionnaire
and the design of the Questionnaire is kept simple and short in order to save time of the
respondent and can be easily understandable by the respondents. Close-ended questionnaires are
designed in order to collect the responses and the questionnaire is consisting of two segments.
One segment contains only the demographic variables and the other segment contains LIKERT
scale questions because it provides results with higher variability.
3.1 Research Tools and Technique
Statistical Package foe Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0.0 is used to analyze the data.
Statistical methods are also used for the calculation of frequencies distribution of the
demographic variables and the multi-regression is used for the calculation of significance of the
variables. One dependent variable and three independent variables are used in this research
following by the equation in order to check correlation.


Customer satisfaction level (CS) as dependent variable and three independent variables easy
availability of spare parts (EASP), easy availability of hybrid mechanic (EAM), technical
support workshop(TSW) is used to construct the above equation.
Figure 1: Customer Satisfaction Level Model


Customer
Satisfaction
Level
Easy
Availibilty Of
Spare Parts
Easy
Availibilty Of
Mechanics
Technical
Support
Workshop
4. Data Findings & Results
Correlation test is used to make inference about the relationship between dependent and
independent variables. The relationship between three independent variables i.e. easy availability
of spare parts, easy availability of mechanics and technical support system and one dependent
variable customer satisfaction level as constant is analyzed by using SPSS which provided with a
coefficient table and summarizes the following results.
Table 1: Correlation Analysis Test

Easy
Availabilit
y of Spare
Parts
Easy
Availabilit
y of
Mechanic
Technical
Support
Workshop
Overall
Satisfaction
Easy Availability of
Spare Parts
Pearson
Correlation
1 .531
**
.361
**
.441
**

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000 .002 .000
N 70 70 70 70
Easy Availability of
Mechanic
Pearson
Correlation
.531
**
1 .426
**
.530
**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

.000 .000
N 70 70 70 70
Technical Support
Workshop
Pearson
Correlation
.361
**
.426
**
1 .479
**

Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .000

.000
N 70 70 70 70
Overall Satisfaction
Pearson
Correlation
.441
**
.530
**
.479
**
1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000

N 70 70 70 70
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
The table above presents that easy availability of spare part has a moderate positive relationship
with customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales service. Easy availability of mechanic
has a strong positive relationship with consumer satisfaction level with respect to after sales
service. Technical support workshop has also a moderate positive relationship with customer
satisfaction level with respect to after sales service. Easy availability of mechanics is the key
determinant in consumer purchase decision about a car as the after sales service is associated
with the purchase decision of car.
The significance level reveals the acceptance and rejection of the hypothesis so that the
dependent and independent variable used in the analysis of Multiple regression analysis is
applied on SPSS and the relationship is described as the acceptance of null hypothesis if the
significance level is greater than 0.1 and the positive hypothesis is accepted if the significance
level is less than 0.1.The table below shows that easy availability of spare part has a beta value of
0.170 that means customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales service is 17% dependent
on easy availability of spare part. It also shows significance level of 0.149>0.1 so by this
phenomena null hypothesis (There is no relationship between availability of spare parts and
customer satisfaction level) do not reject but has very weak rejection.
Table 2: Coefficient Analysis

Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) .469 .254

1.844 .070
easy availability of
spare parts
.183 .126 .170 1.459 .149
easy availability of
mechanic
.270 .101 .320 2.676 .009
technical support
workshop
.255 .099 .281 2.584 .012

The above table also shown that beta value of 0.320 for easy availability of mechanic that means
customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales service is 32% dependent on easy
availability of mechanics and significance level for this is 0.009<0.1 so null hypothesis (There is
no relationship between availability of mechanic and customer satisfaction level) do reject and
alternative hypothesis(There is relationship between availability of mechanics and customer
satisfaction level) is accepted. Table also show that a beta value of 0.281 for technical support
workshop that means customer satisfaction level is 28.1% dependent on technical support
workshop. It also shows significance level of 0.12>0.1 so null hypothesis accepted and alternate
hypothesis is rejected (There is a relationship between economic spare part and customer
satisfaction level).
Table 3: Model Summary

Mode
l
R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .616
a
.380 .351 .69572

Regression analysis by using SPSS is used and computed the model summary which showed R
square value .380 that mean 38 percent of customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales
service is described with our three independent variables easy availability of spare part, easy
availability of mechanic, and technical support workshop.
5. Conclusion
This research study examines the impact of after sales service on customer satisfaction level in
automobile industry of Karachi. Result clearly shows that easy availability of spare parts and
technical support system has weak positive relationship while easy availability of mechanics
have strong positive relationship with customer satisfaction level with respect to after sales
service in automobile industry of Karachi.
The implication of the study is that the automobiles industry should put more emphasis on the
easy availability of mechanics and likely wise on the easy availability of spare parts and
technical support workshop, so that they can influence the buying decision of more customers.

6. Bibliography
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